Research last year suggested that close to half of Brits take an ‘ostrich mentality’ to their pensions, with 51% saving absolutely nothing into a pension and just under half having no idea about what they’ll need for retirement.

These worrying statistics point to a country that’s clearly not saving enough. So, what if you’ve reached your 40s and you’ve got no savings to speak of? Are you destined to be working forever? We get that it’s tempting to give up hope if your pot is empty or tiny, but trust us, you can still build a decent pension. Here are four tips for growing your pension in your 40s.

1. Piece together your patchwork of pensions

You might be surprised at what you find - there’s an estimated £400 million in unclaimed pensions out there - so a bit of digging can help make your pension position a lot clearer. If you’re struggling to find your old paperwork check out our Pensions Explained section on finding and transferring pensions, as this has lots of handy tips for tracking those old pots down.

2. Consider combining your pensions

Clarity is key when it comes to saving, so if you do have old pensions scattered around a logical next step can be to bring them all together into a SIPP (a Self-Invested Personal Pension). Putting your pension in one place makes managing your savings simpler, plus there’s a chance that combining your dormant pensions could save you money.

PensionBee recently released our Robin Hood Index which ranked providers on everything from charges to transfer times, and the data revealed that certain companies were charging average annual fees as high as 10.4%. To give you some context PensionBee only charges one annual fee that’s a fraction of that cost.

Over time high fees can have a big impact - especially if fund growth is poor and you’re not contributing regularly - so it can make sense to combine these pots into a better-value plan. Bear in mind though that it won’t always make sense to combine, particularly if you have a pension with guaranteed benefits.

{{main-cta}}

3. Come up with a contribution plan

As soon as you’re clear on your current situation you’ll be in a better position to put a saving plan in place. There’s no magical number that’ll give you the perfect retirement - it really depends upon your individual circumstances - but there is some handy research out there that can give you a good idea.

Recently, Which? surveyed over 5,000 pensioners, and discovered that, on average, retired couples found they needed around £19,000 a year to cover household essentials - such as food, utilities, transport and housing costs - rising to £32000 allowing for extras, such as a European holiday and leisure activities.

Per person that’s a palatable £16,000 a year. So, if you’re entitled to the full State Pension of £10,600.20, then you might only need to supplement it with around £5,40¬0 per year.

Based on the current retirement ages and State Pension entitlements this means that couples who are starting from scratch need to be saving:

• £194 a month from age 20
• £253 a month from 30
• £351 a month from 40
• £591 a month from 50

So, for couples starting a pension at age 40 individually that works out at £175 per month, and it could be even less than that if you’ve got small pots from previous jobs. Leave it till your 50s though and the costs really start to add up.

In short, it’ll pay to start saving sooner rather than later. Elsewhere, make sure you’re enrolled on your workplace scheme if you work for a company rather than yourself, as an employer’s matched contributions can really stack up. If you work for yourself there’s lots you can do too, and our blog is full of tips and suggestions for the self-employed.

4. Keep your contributions up

We understand that life can be expensive and it can be tempting to cut back on your pension, but the reality is if you’re just starting in your 40s you’re going to have to be strict with your saving. There’s still plenty of time to build a decent pension and you might not even have to change your lifestyle that much. After all, some small switches can mean big pension savings and there’s dozens upon dozens of clever ways you can cut costs.

When you get an unexpected injection of cash consider putting it into your pension, and play with our pension calculator to see what the impact might be.

But above else don’t give up hope, as you can still get your retirement back on track!

Are you a late pension saver? What lessons and tips can you share? Tell us in the comments section below.

Risk warning The information in this article should not be regarded as financial advice.

Article last updated: 10/06/2021

At PensionBee we don’t have account managers, we have BeeKeepers. They’re the busy folks who hunt high and low for your pensions, put them in a shiny new PensionBee plan and provide ongoing customer support.

Nobody knows better than our BeeKeepers that pension providers can be a tricky bunch). The BeeKeepers are accustomed to tinkling hold music, familiar with fax machines, and expert at staying calm in the face of frustration as they search for your pensions.

When you sign up to PensionBee, you’ll be assigned a BeeKeeper (Emily, Priyal or James), who will be on hand throughout, from finding and moving your pensions to answering any questions you have about your PensionBee plan.

Here’s a bit more about each of our brilliant BeeKeepers.

Priyal

“I wanted to work for an organisation that was on the cutting edge, making a real impact in terms of positive social change, where I could learn and grow, and enjoy my work.

What I love most about working here is the buzz! Working with such a motivated and talented team is really exciting, more so because everyone is passionate about making a positive social impact by transforming the pensions industry. Its an empowering culture. I am proud of the fact that we work on campaigns such as exposing gender inequality in pensions. Interacting with customers everyday, and seeing how we really are making a postive impact on peoples lives, means that I go home with a bit of a glow every evening.

One of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had so far was saving my customer £18,000, which she nearly lost due to a pension transfer deadline. At first we thought that we wouldn’t be able to save it because the deadline was a week away, but after negotiating with her providers and modifying our normal procedures, we saved her pension. Seeing how grateful she was really made my work feel meaningful.

Seeing providers who simply don’t care about their customers is a frustrating part of my job. ‘Data protection’ often seems to be used to excuse extremely poor customer service. The ‘computer says no’ approach is unfortunately widespread in the industry, and this creates barriers which leave people feeling daunted about pensions.”

{{main-cta}}

Emily

“I found out about PensionBee through my friend Priyal. She knew that I had also recently left teaching, and recommended the company to me. Once we’d overcome the confusion of me believing she was an actual Bee Keeper, I thought the idea sounded really exciting, and applied straight away.

I’ve been really enjoying making a difference to the world of pensions! Sorting out your pensions shouldn’t have to be this big, laborious chore. Unfortunately, many providers don’t yet agree with us on that one. However, being able to surprise someone with a positive experience of the pensions industry is great, and some of the really lovely feedback we’ve had from our customers makes it all worthwhile. It’s incredibly rewarding when you feel you’ve been able to go the extra mile for a customer. It makes all the hours on hold, dealing with pension providers worth it!

The worst thing is having to tell people that their providers are putting yet another unnecessary or overly complicated delay on proceedings. We always strive to give the best possible customer service, so where factors outside of our control stop us from doing that, it can feel really frustrating.”

James

“Whilst on the post-graduation job hunt, I found PensionBee through a startup jobs website and after doing a bit of research, applying was a no-brainer. I thought the concept was not only very clever and exciting but also had massive scope as it provides a tangible solution to a real problem in society - outdated pension providers!

What I like most about being a BeeKeeper is playing detective! Rescuing our customer’s hard-earned savings from oblivion and putting them back in control of their own retirement. I started quite recently but I’ve already helped a woman who was in danger of losing a four-figure pension due to her provider’s ‘transfer out’ deadline. Being part of a fantastic team of very talented people also helps! The most frustrating part of my job is the hold music I have to listen to every day when I’m contacting providers to find customer pensions.”

Over the past few weeks, we at PensionBee have been investigating the “pension gap” between men and women. Our findings show that on average, women’s pension pots are likely to be 20% smaller than those of men. This is troubling but perhaps not too surprising, given the gender pay gap is a well-publicised phenomenon. What I wasn’t expecting is that only 30% of our customers are actually women!

PensionBee exists to help people take control of their money. Our service helps customers combine their old pensions into a great-value new plan managed by the world’s biggest investment managers. We get rid of all the paperwork and hassle that comes with having old pensions scattered with previous employers. Anyone with an old pension can use PensionBee and hence our success in attracting customers to date - but why are so few of them female? Is it the case that women are simply less engaged with pension saving?

With the gender pay gap taking so long to close, it’s really important that we seize control of our finances.

I looked into this further and found that pension saving isn’t the only aspect of personal finance that women appear more reluctant to tackle. Traditionally, finance products have been designed by men, managed by men and marketed towards men, which may help to explain why the take-up amongst women is relatively low. But with the gender pay gap taking so long to close, it’s really important that we seize control of our finances. Here are four ways women can make the most of their money.

1. Get your pensions sorted

If the pay gap indicates our pensions are likely to be 20% smaller than those of men, it is even more important that we get on top of our current situation. My inspiration for starting PensionBee is well-known. Having “lost” my pension after leaving my first employer, I was determined to do something about my next pension. However, after leaving my second employer, I found the process of taking my pension with me really difficult! From finding a company who would take me on as a customer, to picking a plan amongst thousands of different options, to understanding jargon and hidden fees. I really wish PensionBee had been around when I was doing all of this, but I’m also excited that we can now help so many people get their pensions sorted in a hassle-free way.

2. Stop sitting on spare cash

My friend Holly Mackay of BoringMoney.com frequently cites a surprising statistic: only 10% of British women have a stocks and shares ISA, compared to 17% of men. According to BritainThinks, the financial industry, while not actively ignoring women, presents products in a way that excludes them, with one woman remarking that “the more you go into the bank, the more detailed and complicated the products get, the further away from consumer research you get and the more older men are in charge of products.” It’s often recommened that we should be keeping about three months’ essential outgoings in a bank account. If you think you’re sitting on spare cash, have a look at our short guide on what you could do with your savings, from paying down debt to topping up your pension.

{{main-cta}}

3. Consider switching to save money

A friend of mine routinely collects all sorts of points, from Avios to buy-one-get-one-free coffee reward cards. She will go out of her way to get her nails done in a particular salon across town to save cash, but has yet to switch pension provider, energy provider or any other provider for that matter. Recent research from Gocompare.com has found that men are significantly more likely to search for better deals when it comes to insurance, energy, broadband and bank accounts – 61% of men have switched in the last year, compared to 53% of women. This may be an issue of product fit again, but either way, women are losing out on great deals.

4. Don’t let male colleagues overtake you

According to Thisismoney.co.uk, a third of women have fallen behind with debt payments and one in 10 has at least £10,000 of debt. The highest level of debt is among those under 45 and it seems that single mums struggle the most. Part of the reason women take on more debt is of course because of the pay gap, which itself results from career breaks associated with childbirth and part-time work.

Always do a job you love, because you’re more likely to be good at it and ultimately succeed.

One way to narrow the pay gap and avoid unmanageable debt is to remain actively engaged with our careers. My advice is always to do a job you love because you’re more likely to be good at it and ultimately succeed. And if you think you’re getting underpaid relative to male colleagues, get an action plan together for negotiating a pay rise. After all, research shows that women are better at planning and organising, have more empathy and take greater personal responsibility for their work. Moreover, a workplace is only truly successful if we have diversity. It’s time to put a price on that.

Putting money aside can be difficult, and saving for a pension is something that many people push to the back of their minds. But if you start saving now, your future self will thank you.

The great news is, we reckon you could squirrel away up to £6,372 a year by tweaking your lifestyle slightly and making a few simple switches. We’re not suggesting you give up all the pleasures in life - just that you give them a bit of a shake-up. Here’s how.

Cut down on eating out

An Open Table study last year revealed that the average Brit eats out six times a month and spends up to £53 per meal, bringing the average annual restaurant spend to £4,000 per person.

It’s a hefty sum, and although there are always going to be occasions when it has to be a restaurant meal rather than something cooked at home, there are also those times when you eat out because you can’t be bothered to think up a meal idea, shop and cook.

How to do it

Put together weekly food plans and shop for the week. Also, cook more than you need for a single meal so that you can freeze portions for that “can’t be bothered” evening that’s probably just around the corner\…

How much you could put in your pension

Cutting down restaurant meals by three quarters could mean a £3,000 annual saving. That’s an extra £250 a month for your pension.

Pack your own lunch

We all know that bringing our own lunch into work rather than splurging on a shop-bought sandwich or salad is a good way of saving, but the actual amount you could save is quite staggering.

The average annual spend is an eye-watering £1,840.

Vouchercloud.com research last year suggested that 62% of employed Britons buy their lunches, and the average annual spend is an eye-watering £1,840. Those who bring their own food from home spend just £552 a year on average.

How to do it

If you think of soggy sandwiches and sadness when you hear the words ‘packed lunch’, it’s time to rethink. There are tons of options for inspiring homemade lunches online, and making extra dinner and bringing the leftovers into work is also a cheap and hassle-free option.

How much you could put in your pension

Switching to packed lunches could save you an impressive £1,300 a year. That’s a tidy £108 a month more for your pension.

Quit the pricey coffee

A shop-bought latte or cappuccino can easily set you back £2.50, so it’s not surprising that research from Buddy Loans last year showed Brits spend over £608 a year on fancy caffeine hits.

How to do it

If you’re going to find it hard to kick the coffee habit altogether, just quit the shop-bought stuff. A stove-top Moka pot is one of the cheapest options for homemade fresh coffee, setting you back around £41.40 a year, including the initial outlay. Pour into a Thermos flask for work and you’re good to go!

How much you could put in your pension

Making a Moka pot of coffee at home instead of buying a coffee out each weekday could save you an annual £5^{_state_pension_age}. That’s an extra £47 a month in your pension.

{{main-cta}}

Buy own-brand products

Shoppers who started buying supermarket own-brand products rather than branded goods saved an average of over £1,200 a year according to a Voucher Codes Pro poll last year. It’s an impressive amount, and in many cases you’ll notice little difference in quality between the recognisable brand and the supermarket’s own version.

How to do it

Start putting unbranded goods in your basket, and see whether your receipts start shrinking. Also, make sure you’ve got a loyalty card for your local supermarket: the points can add up to some substantial savings.

How much you could put in your pension

If you manage to save £1,200 annually, that’s an extra £100 a month for your pension.

Switch suppliers

Recent government figures show that, of the UK households that use gas and don’t have a pre-payment meter, well over half could save £200 a year plus by switching to a better energy deal. Of these people, around 9.5 million could save over £300.

Meanwhile, switching bank accounts can now save the average Brit £116 a year.

How to do it

There are online platforms that can help you switch your energy supplier. The government figures show that the best deal on average costs around £765 per year for gas and electricity. Suppliers also offer more competitive prices for direct debit, so shift to this payment method if you’re not using it already.

Most banks offer a switching service so you can move your accounts to them with minimum hassle. They’ll move your salary payments, direct debits and standing orders for you, and will often also give you a cash bonus for making the switch.

How much you could put in your pension

If you make the average saving for both utility and bank account switching, that gives you an extra £316 a year or £26 a month for your pension.

Totting up the total savings

If you make all of these small switches, you could put an additional £531 per month into your pension. This could make a huge difference to your pension pot at retirement. You can play around with our pension calculator to see the sort of impact this could have.

For instance, these images show the impressive impact that it had when we upped monthly contributions from £100 to over ^{_higher_rate_personal_savings_allowance} a month (on a pot of £50k).

£100 p/month pension contribution

^{_higher_rate_personal_savings_allowance} p/month pension contribution

Bear in mind these are projections that are based on assumptions and are not guaranteed. For more information on how the calculator works, check out the help text on our pension calculator page.

Other simple ways of saving

• Be more thoughtful about food and throw less away. The average Brit chucks £39 worth of food away each month.
• If it’s possible, cycle or walk to work rather than shelling out on bus or train tickets or fuel and parking.
• Save your small change. Try an app like Moneybox, which automatically rounds up your card payments and puts the extra into an ISA.
• If you get a pay rise, pay the extra money each month into your pension or savings account.

Are you an obsessive saver? What tips would you add to the list? Let us know in the comments section at the bottom of the page!

Risk warning As always with pensions, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

From feeling frustrated by providers to a “mañana” approach to your finances, we hear plenty of excuses for putting pension saving to the bottom of the pile. But being as passionate about pensions as we are, we’ve got answers to all of them.

Here are the 10 most common excuses for neglecting your pension and the reasons why we want to help you get your pension back on track.

1. I want to enjoy today! I may get hit by a bus tomorrow

If you’re aged 30 now, you have a life expectancy of over 80. Of course there’s always a chance that something could happen to you before you reach pension age, but the likelihood is you’ll spend several years in retirement. A meagre State Pension that’s only likely to dwindle further in the next few decades is a pretty good reason for having some private pension savings.

If something does happen to you before you reach pension age then you can pass on your pension money to your beneficiaries and it’ll be treated much more kindly by the taxman than other types of saving. If you die before 75, you can usually pass your pension on tax-free.

2. I’m too young to think about pension saving

Once you start working, it’s never too early to think about pension saving. The sooner you start saving, the more money you should be able to save for retirement, and the longer your funds have to grow thanks to compound interest. Plus, the more you can save now the earlier you could retire. Starting young also means pension saving should be less painful, as you won’t have to make huge contributions to put a decent amount aside.

For example if you start saving at age 30 and contribute ^_ni_rate of a £30,000 salary, you may have a pension fund worth £196,100 when you retire. If you only start saving at 45, the same level of contributions may leave you with £109,500 at retirement.*

Plus, with the state retirement age going up and the State Pension coming under pressure, those in their twenties and thirties today are particularly likely to need some of their own pension savings by the time they reach retirement.

3. Pensions are boring

We understand: pension saving doesn’t seem particularly exciting, and it’s hard to prioritise it when there are always more interesting things to do. But, as we’ve said, pension saving is important, and it starts to seem a bit less boring when you consider the ‘free money’ you could get from your employer and HMRC when you save into a pension. If you have a workplace pension then your employer will usually make contributions, and the government contributes in the form of tax relief, effectively adding £2 for every £8 you put in your pension.

Plus, here at PensionBee we’re trying to make pension saving more accessible and more engaging. Sign up to PensionBee to get a pension that you can manage online: we reckon you’ll think pension saving is much less boring when you can check your balance on your phone, set a retirement goal and see if you’re on track.

4. I don’t have enough spare cash

Money is often tight and it can be tricky to find enough cash to save into a pension. The important message here is that every little helps, and that you may not need to save as much as you think once you’ve taken employer contributions and tax relief into account. Check out our article on pension saving when you’re on a tight budget for some tips.

{{main-cta}}

5. I don’t trust pension providers

Many people don’t trust pension providers, and not without reason: our Robin Hood index revealed poor customer service and old-fashioned practices in the pensions industry. In fact, this is at the heart of why we started PensionBee - to provide a pension service that’s refreshingly modern, transparent, and customer-focused.

But some of the distrust in pension providers may be misplaced. The high-profile BHS pensions scandal and similar news stories have led some to fear that their pension fund can be diminished or even disappear overnight if their employer gets into financial trouble, but for the most part this isn’t the case.

Defined benefit pensions are a promise from your employer to pay you a certain amount on retirement, and your company may not be able to keep this promise if they have money problems. But most pensions nowadays (including PensionBee pensions) are defined contribution pensions, and this means that they work like a tax-efficient savings account, so they’re not at risk if your employer goes bankrupt. And even if you do have a defined benefit pension that’s at risk, the Pension Protection Fund can provide compensation.

6. I don’t want my money locked away - I might need it!

This is a good point and it’s always a smart idea to have some savings that are accessible at short-notice in case an unforeseen cost crops up. For many people, an ISA is a good way of doing this: it’s a tax-efficient way of saving and you can dip into most cash ISAs whenever you need to.

But as long as you’ve got some savings that you can access, a pension is a good idea too. Remember that the benefits of a pension include employer contributions, particularly generous tax relief, and tax-friendly treatment if it’s inherited.

You may be able to access your pension money early if you’re in serious ill health, and recent pension freedom rules mean that you have several options for what to do with your pension money when you reach 55, including withdrawing up to ^{_corporation_tax} as a tax-free lump sum. Our page on pensions vs. ISAs compares the two products side-by-side.

7. I don’t stay at one job for long enough

If you often move from one job to the next, it can feel like it’s not worth building up lots of tiny pension pots, and there are horror stories of small pension pots being entirely swallowed up by fees.

One of the ways of dealing with this problem is to consolidate your pensions into a single plan, so that you can manage your money in one place and keep an eye on your fees. Also, remember that even if you only pay into a pension plan briefly, you can still benefit from employer contributions and tax relief.

8. I’m self-employed

Pension saving is really important for the self-employed too. You may not benefit from employer contributions, but you still get tax relief when you save into a pension, and if your business is set up as a limited company then you can also choose to make employer contributions to your pension, which has tax advantages too.

9. Property will be my pension

Although property can provide money for retirement there are certain downsides. For example property is a very illiquid asset (it’s difficult to exchange it for cash), and if the property market plummets, you could be left struggling.

Good pension funds, on the other hand, are diversified, meaning that your money is invested in a range of assets to manage the risk. And as we’ve mentioned, there are tax benefits to pensions. This means that even if you’ve got money in property, it’s probably a good idea to pay into a pension too.

10. I just haven’t got round to it yet…

Yep, we’ve got a to-do list as long as our arm too, but doesn’t it feel good when you tick stuff off? If you’ve paid into a pension in the past, sign up to PensionBee and get your pension saving sorted with minimum hassle. We’ll combine your existing pensions into a simple plan that you can manage online. We’ll even help you locate your old pensions if you’re not sure where they are.

If you haven’t ever saved into a pension, speak to your employer about joining your workplace scheme or look into setting up your own private pension. Your future self will thank you!

• These figures are intended for illustration only. As with all investments, capital is at risk and the value can go down as well as up. We have assumed a retirement age of 65, that your plan earns a 5% return before the effects of inflation and have taken inflation of 2.5% into account.

Reckon you’ve got a good reason for not saving into a pension? Tell us in the comments at the bottom of the page!

Despite their promise to pay pensions to over 20,000 current and former employees, the BHS fund is falling short by around £600 million. It’s unclear how the shortfall will be made up and what this will mean for all of those people relying on a pension – especially given the latest reports that the chain is set to close its doors.

This isn’t the first time it’s happened either – a number of retail giants have faced similar fates – and thousands have been left worrying where their pension pots are.

So, how you can tell if your pension is about to get BHS-ed?

1) You have a defined benefit pension.

There are two types of pensions in the UK: defined benefit and defined contribution.

Defined benefit pensions

Defined benefit pensions carry a promise from the employer to pay a certain salary (say £50,000 per year) after a certain age (say 65 ). The amount is usually based on your actual salary at, or close to, retirement. If you have a defined benefit pension, you’re relying on your employer to meet its obligation to you - an obligation that may only come due some 20 years from now.

Defined contribution pensions

Defined contribution pensions, on the other hand, do not contain any promises. They are typically invested in shares, bonds and other assets. These assets have a history of growing over a long period of time, so they can help a pension increase in value. However, there are no guarantees about the rate of growth. In order to help savers get on track, employers are now required to contribute into workplace defined contribution pensions and the government will add £2 for every £8 you contribute.

The PensionBee pension is a defined contribution pension.

2) The employer sponsoring the defined benefit pension is not putting enough money in.

Because defined benefit pensions are reliant on employers making ongoing contributions (often even after you have left employment), how responsible an employer is can be measured by the pension deficit.

The pension deficit measures the gap between how much the pension scheme owes employees in retirement benefits and how much it has actually set aside. BHS’s £600 million deficit is enormous, but many other pension plans could be in trouble, as UK companies collectively have a £100 billion deficit! Under accounting rules, every company is required to publish its deficit in its annual report, so if you have a defined benefit pension, it may be worth checking this out or calling your pension provider to discuss.

{{main-cta}}

3) The employer sponsoring the defined benefit pension is not doing too well.

Like BHS, many companies are facing challenges from a slow-growing economy and technological changes that have altered the way we shop and pay for services. If you have a defined benefit pension, you have to wonder whether the employer will be able to generate enough revenue to meet its expenses, pay dividends to shareholders and also fund the pension scheme.

Many employers could fail over the next 20 years and they could well take the employee pension scheme with them. Although the government has a Pension Protection Fund to provide compensation for employees with defined benefit pensions at bankrupt companies, there is no guarantee that you will actually receive what your employer had promised, as there is a cap on payments of just over £30,000 per year.

What to do if you think your pension is getting BHS-ed

In summary, your pension may be at risk from a company bankruptcy if it is:

• Defined benefit
• There is a pension deficit
• The employer is not doing very well

If this sounds familiar and you’re feeling worried, you can transfer a defined benefit pension of under £30,000 to a defined contribution pension like PensionBee. We can also take on defined benefit pensions of over £30,000, but you must seek the advice of a qualified Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) first. Bear in mind that not all IFAs can provide transfer advice, so make sure the one you speak to has the latest Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) qualifications.

As always with investments, your capital might be at risk.

Founded in December 2014, my company, PensionBee, just celebrated its first birthday. We ate snowman doughnuts (yes, these exist, and they are absolutely delicious...)

I also reflected on the last year. This was a phenomenal time for PensionBee. As an online pension manager, we find customers’ existing pensions and combine them into a single online plan, managed by two of the world’s largest investment managers. Over the course of the last year, we built our core technology, put in place the most amazing team and released the pension location tool to the general public in December 2015. Just in time for Christmas! It took a lot of hard work. A lot of blood, sweat and perhaps a few tears. This is what I learned along the way.

1. Find teammates who will get in the bathtub with you.

My team is absolutely amazing and each one of them is critically important. Not only are they individually a huge proportion of the workforce (one person on a ten-person team is 1^{_personal_allowance_rate}!) they are also the key reason you will move forward or fail. The best teammates care about the company and your mission. They get angry about excessive pension fees. The company becomes a part of their lives. They think about PensionBee at home. At strange times. And they are excited about new ideas and how they can push those new ideas forward. Our CTO, Jonathan, and I like to call this “getting in the bathtub”. It can be uncomfortable, it’s very personal and it’s usually a tight squeeze! But when the entire team is in the bathtub, the company’s productivity thrives. You need the right team because...

2. It’s going to be hard.

If it wasn’t hard, somebody else would already be doing it. For us it often gets hard when we work with uncooperative pension providers. We need to ask them hard questions, like how much they are charging customers in fees - never a fun question to answer, especially when the answer is hidden in reams of paperwork. I know that when I hear Tess, our Manager and chief BeeKeeper groaning, one of those pesky pension companies has thrown an obstacle in her path. I will never forget the day a major pension company asked us to send them a fax! The key here is to keep persevering. Our customers have a right to know about their own money. As long as you stay on the right side of what is right, there is always a way forward. That’s when we bought Larry, our fax machine. Larry reinforces the principle that...

3. Good businesses are about good processes, not just good ideas.

Those who know me know I hate the word “founder”. Founder always implies the person with a good idea, but most CEOs will tell you ideas are worth very little and boring old process is the true king of start-up success. A successful company requires scalability, which is an investor term for “being able to do the same thing over and over again efficiently”. Building effective processes requires discipline. At PensionBee, we live by the mantra of plan, check, do, check, measure. It’s tempting to skip the planning stage when resources are tight, but it’s key if you want to avoid nasty surprises. Building processes doesn’t mean you have to be “corporate”. On the contrary, it’s really important to...

4. Own your identity.

Jasper, our VP Marketing, is the epitome of the PensionBee brand. He is sharp, fresh, provocative and fun. Not what you would expect from a pension company, yet everything we find distinguishes us from the stuffy dinosaurs of the insurance industry. When you’re a small company, it’s tempting to act in the way you think others expect you to act. Most pension providers communicate by post. We hate post and avoid it at all costs. Unless the package came in some pretty wrapping, post is just another chore. Be different. Customers will love you for it and when they do...

{{main-cta}}

5. Jump for joy.

When our very first customer decided to combine his pensions with PensionBee, I literally jumped out of my chair with a fistpump! We had helped this particular customer save thousands of pounds in pension fees and he was grateful! All of the hard work was worth it at that moment. Don’t forget to celebrate and to...

6. Share your success and thank those that help you move forward.

Your investors, your business partners, your family and your friends have all taken time out of their lives to help your company grow. It’s important to thank them, whether that means buying them breakfast or sending them custom-made t-shirts with the company logo (which they will proudly wear!). They are your life support and they understand that you need to...

7. Keep going as fast as you can, because things always take longer than you think they will.

The devil is in the detail. Entrepreneurs are naturally optimistic. That’s why we are entrepreneurs! However long you think something will take or however much you think it will cost, a good rule of thumb is to add another 5^{_personal_allowance_rate}. Especially when you are dependent on others. If you are dependent on the regulator or another government authority, double the amount of time you think it will take. Delays are unavoidable, so...

8. Get some ‘ZZZs. If you can.

For me, the hardest part of being a CEO is the insomnia. It’s very common to wake up at 4:30am with a new idea or the solution to a hard problem or a nagging worry. If you’re like me, you will discover a newfound ability to function on several hours of sleep. In these situations, a double macchiato is your best friend. Don’t worry, you will sleep again.

Retirement may still feel like a long way off, but the sooner you get on top of your pension situation the better. The government is increasingly concerned that people aren’t saving enough for retirement, and this means that many of tomorrow’s pensioners could really struggle to make ends meet.

But the news isn’t all gloomy: it’s not too late to get to grips with your pension and start saving your way towards a more comfortable retirement. If you’re making any of these six common pension mistakes, here are some tips for how to fix them.

1. Delaying starting a pension

To give you the best chance of enjoying a decent pension pot at retirement, you need to start saving into a pension plan as soon as possible. The later you start, the bigger the contributions you’ll have to make to get a reasonable retirement income.

What it’s costing you

If you start saving at age 30 and you contribute ^_ni_rate of a £30,000 salary, you could expect to have a pension fund of £196,100 at retirement. If you made the same contributions but you only started saving at the age of 45, your pension pot would be around £109,500 at retirement.*

How to fix it

Although retirement may feel a long way off right now, it pays to start saving straight away.

2. Opting out of your company scheme

Recent changes to legislation mean that companies must automatically enrol their employees into a workplace pension scheme. As a result, you have to actively opt-out if you don’t want a workplace pension. However, making the decision to opt-out could be costly.

What it’s costing you

Opting out effectively means turning down free money from your employer.

The new Auto-Enrolment rules compel your workplace to contribute towards your pension, as long as you’re paying into the scheme. The employer minimum contribution is currently 2% of your annual salary (rising to 3% in 2019), but many workplaces offer ‘contribution matching’, which means they’ll increase their contributions if you increase yours.

Opting out of your workplace pension effectively means turning down free money from your employer.

How to fix it

If you’ve already opted out, contact HR about signing up.

3. Leaving your pensions languishing

We keep talking about your ‘pension pot’ as a single thing, but many people actually have several pension funds because they’ve moved jobs a few times. It’s easy to push this to the back of your mind, but the fact that your pension isn’t in one place can have a real impact on your retirement savings.

What it’s costing you

Well, the problem is, it’s actually hard to know this until you start tracking down your old pensions and sifting through the paperwork. You may be losing out because you’ve got money sitting in a poorly-performing fund, or because your pension provider is charging high fees.

How to fix it

Start by tracking down those old pensions. We know this can seem like a huge task, but PensionBee can help if you choose to join us. The more information you can give us about them the better as this can really speed your transfer up, but don’t worry if you don’t have your policy number to hand – we don’t necessarily need it and you can always add it later.

{{main-cta}}

4. Thinking property is your pension

It’s tempting to hope that your home or buy-to-let property will tide you over in retirement. This isn’t a good idea for a number of reasons: firstly, it puts all your financial eggs in one basket, meaning you’re at the mercy of the property market, which is often unstable.

Plus, homes are costly because they require constant upkeep and maintenance, and the capital can only be realised when you’re ready to sell.

What it’s costing you

A good pension plan will let you spread your assets across a range of funds, so that your money is invested in a combination of categories like shares, bonds, property and cash. Unlike relying solely on property, this means that your investments are diversified.

If you pay £8,000 into your pension, HMRC adds ^{_tax_free_childcare} of tax relief.

If you rely on property instead of a pension you’re also missing out on all the extra money that’s added to pension pots. Not only will your employer contribute to workplace schemes, but the government also adds money in the form of tax relief.

For example, if you pay £8,000 into your pension this year, HMRC adds another ^{_tax_free_childcare} in the form of tax relief, to give you a ^{_money_purchase_annual_allowance} total.

How to fix it

Property can still be a good investment, but make sure you start a pension plan too.

5. Letting fees eat your pension

You probably know that your pension provider charges a management fee, but did you know about the whole host of other fees that they may also be taking from your pension funds? Often hidden in the small print, sneaky pension provider fees may include a ‘contribution fee’, an ‘inactivity fee’ and an ‘exit fee’. According to a recent YouGov poll, 89% of people know little about the fees they’re paying.

What it’s costing you

These fees can have a big impact on your pension pot at retirement. For example, if you’re paying an annual fee of 2%, this could reduce your pension pot by 36% by the time you retire.**

How to fix it

If you sign up to PensionBee, once we’ve found your old pensions we’ll combine them in a new, good-value plan. We’re upfront about our fees: we only charge a single annual fee and there’s no hidden costs.

6. Ignoring your pension plan

When did you last check your bank balance? Chances are, more recently than you took a look at your pension balance. It’s important to keep checking your pension to make sure you’re on track to a reasonable retirement fund.

How much it’s costing you

It’s often hard to tell, as many pension providers send reams of paperwork through the post with the figures buried. To see whether you could be losing out when you retire, you need to know how your funds are performing and whether you need to make any adjustments. At the very least you should check your pension every year and each time your circumstances change.

How to fix it

If you pick a PensionBee plan, you will have 24/7 online access to your pension, so you can easily check how much money is in your pension pot, how your funds are performing, and how much you’re likely to receive on retirement.

Have you made any of these pension mistakes? Are there any you think we’ve missed? Let us know in the comments section at the bottom of the page!

* These figures are intended for illustration only. As with all investments, capital is at risk and the value can go down as well as up. We have assumed a retirement age of 65, that your plan earns a 5% return before the effects of inflation and have taken inflation of 2.5% into account.

** Standard assumptions apply. This calculation is based on a pension pot of ^{_isa_allowance}, and is an illustration of how much the fees may reduce your pension pot by, when you reach retirement age.

NatWest recently suggested that they may introduce negative interest rates for business accounts, meaning that customers may actually be charged for making deposits. This has led to some wondering whether an ‘under the mattress’ approach to saving is better than having cash in the bank.

While there’s no suggestion that personal account holders will face negative interest rates, saving rates have been dismally low for a while, and the news has made some savers nervous.

If you’ve got money saved, here are some options for what to do with it while rates remain at rock-bottom.

Pay off any debts

If you have any outstanding debts like credit card or loan debt, then it’s usually smart to start by paying these off, as you’re likely to save more money on the loan interest than you’d earn on any savings interest.

You can also consider making mortgage overpayments, but check first that your mortgage provider won’t hit you with penalties. You can use Money Saving Expert’s mortgage overpayment calculator to get an idea of the impact mortgage overpayment could have.

Shop around for a better current account

Some standard bank accounts are offering surprisingly good interest rates of as much as 5%, so switching could be a wise move.

Read the terms carefully though: you often need to pay in a minimum amount of money each month to qualify for these accounts, and the interest rate may drop after the first 12 months. Some accounts will also charge you a monthly fee.

Regular saver accounts

Also make sure you’re getting the best deal possible on your regular savings account, as some are currently offering up to 6%.

Again, make sure you’re clear on the minimum amount you’ll need to save each month, and check if there’s cap on the amount of savings eligible for the advertised rate.

Help to Buy ISAs

If you’re hoping to buy your first home, you can open a Help to Buy ISA and the government will add money to your savings. The government adds 25%, so that for every £200 you save you’ll get a top-up of £50, up to a maximum of £3,000.

When you’re buying your property, your conveyancing solicitor applies for the government bonus and it’s paid towards the cost of your property.

{{main-cta}}

Stocks and shares ISAs

An ISA is a smart way to save, as it’s designed to be tax efficient. For 2016/17 the ISA allowance is £15,240.

A cash ISA is just a tax-free savings account, but a stocks and shares ISA means that your money is invested in things like bonds, shares and funds.

If you receive dividends (regular payments from investment profits) then the first £5,000 is tax free, and then further dividend payments from your stocks and shares ISA will be taxed at 7.5% if you’re a basic rate taxpayer.

Pay more money into your pension

Putting some of your extra money into your pension may be a good idea for several reasons. For starters, most good pension plans are diversified and managed by professional money managers, which helps to manage risk.

Secondly, the government adds money to your pension savings in the form of tax relief, so if you’re a basic rate taxpayer and you pay £8,000 into your pension this year, the government adds £2,000 in tax relief to bring you to a £10,000 total.

Plus, if you’re paying into a workplace pension your employer is obliged to contribute too, and some companies offer contribution matching, so if you increase your contributions they’ll do the same.

PensionBee can combine your old pensions into a new plan that you can manage online. Sign up to PensionBee here.

Investment funds

Investment funds are a type of grouped investment. Your money is pooled with the money of other investors and used to invest in a range of assets. The idea is that your cash is diversified (spread out), which helps to manage the risk, and investment decisions are made by an experienced fund manager.

This can be a way for people without much investment experience and with a modest amount of money to take advantage of investment opportunities.

Peer-to-peer lending

If you’re up for trying something a bit different, peer-to-peer lending means you can lend money to businesses or other individuals through an online platform, making money from the interest they pay.

The main UK peer-to-peer lending platforms are Zopa, RateSetter and Funding Circle, and you may be able to earn interest of over 7%. However, it’s important to note that money you lend in this way isn’t covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

Risk warning

With all investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

Yesterday, we heard the news that 88-year old high street retailer British Home Stores (BHS) has gone into administration, putting almost 11,000 jobs at risk.

So far, shareholders have failed to find a buyer for the business, and the company’s huge pension deficit of £571m is part of the reason.

Pension Protection Fund

BHS pension scheme members will now rely on the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), which was started in 2005 to protect people in defined benefit pension schemes that become insolvent.

This will mean that those who expect to receive their BHS pension from the age of 60 could receive at least 1^{_personal_allowance_rate} less than they expected. BHS defined benefit schemes (also called final salary schemes) were closed several years ago, but it appears that more than 20,400 past and present employees have paid into them.

The size of the BHS pension fund means that it’s likely to be one of the PPF’s biggest rescues.

The PPF is also preparing to help secure Tata Steel UK pensions, as the future of the Port Talbot plant remains uncertain.

If Tata Steel does have to rely on PPF, many of their 130,000 pension scheme members - in particular those who haven’t yet retired or those who took early retirement - could also find their expected pension amount reduced by 1^{_personal_allowance_rate}.

{{main-cta}}

What does this mean for your retirement?

This is a worrying time for many, and it emphasises the fact that even defined benefit pension schemes are not a gold-plated guarantee of a certain retirement income.

Add to this the fact that cuts to the state pension are underway and likely to continue, and the future of tomorrow’s pensioners looks rather uncertain.

If you’re worried about your retirement income, investing in a variety of different products, including a workplace pension, a personal pension, and property and other investments, can help to spread your risk.

Here at PensionBee we’re on a mission to put you in control of your retirement savings. For more information about personal pensions, see our pensions explained article on SIPPs.

Please note that this article does not constitute financial advice. Contact a financial adviser if you need help with financial decisions.

There is a new buzzword in my life: fintech. And it would seem it’s not just me - many promising new financial technology initiatives are getting going in London. In my naturally unbiased opinion, PensionBee is undoubtedly the one to watch.

Fintech today is all about money - more precisely, the financial future of the customer. Protecting the personal data of those customers is a huge part of gaining trust and reliability as a startup.

Most startup teams don’t include a legal expert amongst their numbers, and fintech startups are no different. So many may have missed October’s news that the EU’s highest court has ruled that the Safe Harbor Framework, which permitted companies within the US to accept and process personal data of EU citizens on behalf of EU companies, is invalid.

This framework has been in place since 2000 and, due to the increased use of cloud computing over the last 15 years, the ruling affects almost every company doing business today, not just the giants like Facebook that were mentioned in the press.

{{main-cta}}

How many fintech startups are planning to take action to remain compliant under EU law?

At PensionBee, we decided that it was important to have a lawyer in our founding team. As soon as the court ruling was released, we were on top of the need to review our cloud service provider contracts and privacy policies. We signed up to new terms compliant with the EU ruling with a key supplier and we updated our privacy policy. As the supplier network and the UK government responds to the ruling over the coming months, we will be taking stock and staying on the right side of the law.

You don’t get this level of legal agility without investing in an in-house lawyer or an excellent outsourced legal team. Since a fintech product is effectively a legal product, you can’t get by without it.

If you’re feeling a bit lost with your finances, then turning to a financial adviser is an obvious option. But advisers can be expensive, and if your finances are relatively straightforward and your main aim is to get on top of your spending and make a savings plan, then it’s quite possible to do it yourself. Set aside a weekend and follow our quick start guide to DIY financial planning, also making use of the wealth of online tools out there, including downloadable budget spreadsheets and price comparison tools.

1. Get to grips with your income and outgoings

Start by making a spreadsheet that shows your income and your expenditure. You’ve probably got quite a clear idea of your monthly income, but gather your last few payslips anyway to check your take-home pay after deductions for tax, National Insurance, pension contributions and student loan payments. Remember to add on any extra income that you receive, for example from benefits, child maintenance, or pension payments.

Calculating your expenditure is always going to be a bit more complicated. Start by writing down the value of all your regular monthly payments with the help of your bank statements, online banking log, or utility bills. Common household payments include:

• rent or mortgage payments
• debt repayments
• utilities like gas, electricity and water
• council tax
• internet and landline
• mobile phone contract
• music or video subscriptions
• satellite TV
• insurance (house, car, life, pet etc.)
• childcare
• gym membership
• parking permits

Next you need to list other costs, that are likely to vary more significantly from month-to-month. You should be able to do this by referring to receipts and your online banking record, but if you find it difficult you could try keeping a ‘spending diary’ over a month instead. The kind of costs you’ll be taking into account here include:

• food
• transport (e.g. fuel and train fares)
• clothes
• car running costs
• pet care
• household items and appliances
• leisure (cinema, theatre etc.)
• miscellaneous

2. Consider your long-term goals

Getting a snapshot of your current financial situation is hugely helpful and a big step on your financial planning journey. Now you can see clearly where you’re spending your money, you can think about your long-term financial aims and how you might need to change your spending and saving behaviour accordingly.

If you’re planning a big, expensive life change like buying a house, getting married or having a child, then you need to think carefully about how much money you’re going to need and how much time you’ve got to save it.

Even if you don’t have a big milestone ahead of you, your financial goal might be to have money for a nice holiday or a new car. If this is the case, put a figure on it, and keep this aim firmly in mind when you’re overhauling your finances.

3. Trim your spending

Once you’re clear about how much you’re trying to save, it’s time to figure out how to get there. Don’t be unrealistic and aim to deny yourself all pleasures in life, but look at your expenditure spreadsheet and think about how you might be able to cut down: could you shop in a less expensive supermarket, car-share to work or even just skip your daily latte? Also consider switching your utility providers if there are better deals available (there are several website to help with this), and set up direct debits if you currently pay by a different method.

{{main-cta}}

4. Take stock of your debts

What debts do you have, including any credit cards, loans and overdrafts? If you’ve got money left over each month then it’s a good idea to pay off these debts before you start saving, as the money you’re spending on interest is likely to outweigh the amount you’d make on your savings.

Stop using really expensive credit like store cards, and possibly consider transferring your credit balance onto a card with a ^{_personal_allowance_rate} rate to give you a break from interest payments. Exercise caution if you take this option though, as when the interest free period ends, you’ll often be switched on to a really high rate if the debt isn’t paid off.

5. Set up your savings

In light of your long-term goals and considering that it’s always good to have a cushion for emergencies, set yourself a realistic monthly saving target and set up a regular payment for moving money from your current account to your savings account. An ISA is a really good option, as it offers tax-free saving. The limit to the amount that you can put into an ISA is currently £15,240 for the tax year 2015/16.

The other main method of tax-efficient saving is to save into your pension. The standard amount of tax relief is a ^{_corporation_tax} tax top up for basic rate taxpayers, meaning that if you put £8,000 into your pension pot, HMRC effectively adds another ^{_tax_free_childcare}. PensionBee can help you take control of your retirement saving by finding your old pension pots and combining them into a single, low-cost plan.

6. Financial planning for higher sums

If you’ve followed these steps but you’ve got substantial savings that go far beyond your ISA allowance and you’re already paying a significant amount into your pension, there are of course many options available to you. You could put money into property, invest in shares or bonds, or even consider peer-to-peer lending.

The decision on what to do with your money will largely depend on how much risk you want to take and how much access you need to your money. If you’re dealing with large amounts of money or your financial situation changes significantly, this could be a good time to seek professional help.

You probably know that your pension provider charges you an annual management fee, but are you aware of the whole host of additional fees that they may be taking from your pension pot? These extra charges are often buried in the small print or hidden behind benign-sounding financial jargon, but their impact can be huge: research has shown that some people could pay up to two thirds of their money in fees over the course of a lifetime. We think this is pretty outrageous, so we’ve uncovered some of the most scandalous pension fees out there.

1. The service or policy fee

You may think that the cost of managing your pension is covered by your annual management charge. While that’s a reasonable assumption, it’s not necessarily the case. Some providers stick on a separate policy fee, apparently to cover ‘administration costs’.

2. The contribution fee

Your pension provider is happy when you put money into your pension, right? Well if so, contribution fees are a funny way of showing it. Some providers will take a cut of your contributions, for example taking 2% of each payment you make into your pension pot, on top of the annual management fee they’re charging.

3. The inactivity fee

If you stop paying into your pension, you may be penalised in the form of an inactivity fee. These fees are often given a positive spin, referred to as ‘active member discounts’. However you dress them up, these are essentially charges that you have to pay because you’re no longer paying money into the scheme, perhaps because you’ve changed jobs.

{{main-cta}}

4. The exit fee

So you may face a fee for keeping your money where it is, for adding more money to your pension pot, or for stopping your contributions. But if you try to move your pension away from the scheme… Yep, you guessed it, you may get hit with a fee there too. Although we know from experience there are costs associated to move a pension, some providers try to lock you in by charging steep exit fees if you try to move your money to another provider.

5. The platform fee

Sounds mysterious, doesn’t it? We’re not sure why it’s necessary either, but some providers have found another fee to add in the form of a ‘platform fee’, apparently for the privilege of using their service.

These are just some of the fees that you may be paying, out of a total of around 18 different charges levied by pension providers. At PensionBee, we do things differently. We charge a single annual management fee. There are no hidden service fees, platform fees, or any other kind of fees.

Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.